MIKE MERTON WINS MUNICH MILE FOR THE SECOND CONSECUTIVE YEAR

Thu, 10/03/2013 - 10:52am -- Anonymous (not verified)

On the warm and balmy fall afternoon of October 2 Monticello Raceway presented its ninth edition of the Munich Mile, the sixth leg of the tracks year long Heritage Drivers Series. The race was for drivers of German descent and was enhanced this year by the presence of four native German drivers.

“They are here as guests of the North American Amateur Drivers Association to compete against NAADA drivers at three different racetracks so we postponed our Munich Mile to coincide with their arrival in order to have native Germans in our race,” explained Eric Warner the tracks director of racing. “ We were pleased to have them participate and they were glad to be able to drive in this race.”

When the gate sprung Chuck Poynton sent front-running Tommy Ray CMJ to the lead and Mike Merton commandeered the two hole with Snap Out Of It and he stayed covered while Germans Martina Bredlau and Peter latzer got plenty of Catskill air while on the limb with their pacers, Spectacular Man and Keltic Dragon, respectively.

Poynton and Tommy Ray CMJ took the field all the way to the top of the lane which was ideal for Merton. When the trailing horses swarmed in on Poynton’s pacer Merton took the unblocked short route up the passing lane to score a two-length victory with favored Snap Out Of It in a 1:58.2 clocking.

Sammy Savannah and German driver Andreas Schwarz rallied to be second and the held off Pat Beeler with Foomanchu who ended up third. Tommy Ray CMJ faded and finished fourth.

“It worked out great for me,” Merton said after his victory.”I had a perfect trip behind the leader and he carried me all the way to the top of the stretch and when the passing lane opened headed for home unrestricted.”

Owned by Paul Felsher and trained by Bill Kapinos, Snap Out Of It scored his fifth seasonal victory and returned a $4.10 win mutuel